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assurance statement
Scope of the Assurance. Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance, Inc. (LRQA) was commissioned by Exxon Mobil Corporation to review the reporting processes used in the creation of the ExxonMobil 2007 Corporate Citizenship Report. The objectives of the review were to validate the integrity of the reporting processes and to evaluate consistency with the following industry guidelines:
- IPIECA/API, Oil and Gas Industry Guidance on Voluntary Sustainability Reporting (April 2005); and,
- API, Compendium of Greenhouse Gas Emission Estimation Methodologies for the Oil and Gas Industry (February 2004).
The scope of the assurance was limited to processes for the reporting of safety, health, and environmental core IPIECA performance indicators and ExxonMobil-selected additional indicators. Verification of data accuracy was not included in the review scope. ExxonMobil fully acknowledges its sole responsibility for the accuracy of all information contained within the report.
Approach. The assurance was based on interviews with key personnel to identify the processes in place to fulfill the IPIECA indicators followed by reviews of the processes for collecting, compiling, and reporting these indicators at the corporate, functional business, and operating unit levels. These reviews comprised:
- A review of the reported information to confirm the inclusion of all core safety, health, and environmental (SH&E) performance indicators referenced in the IPIECA/API Guidance;
- A review of the documented reporting requirements against the applicable industry guidelines to assure consistency of scope, definition, and reporting for each of the relevant indicators;
- A review of the reporting processes at headquarters and at each of the functional business levels to evaluate the processes used to assure completeness, consistency, and accuracy of metrics reporting across ExxonMobil’s global operations;
- Reviews of the data-reporting processes at a sample of selected operating sites to assess local understanding and implementation of reporting requirements; and,
- A review of the processes used to aggregate the information at the corporate level for inclusion in the final report.
Conclusions and Findings. Based on the scope of the assurance and the information presented for review, objective evidence was available to support the following conclusions:
- ExxonMobil has processes in place that ensure sites that contribute to safety, health, and environmental metrics understand corporate reporting obligations and are included in corporate SH&E reporting;
- The methods used for calculating each metric are clearly defined and communicated;
- Data collection begins at the operating site level and is ultimately collated and combined into Corporation-wide metrics;
- Processes are in place to ensure that the quantitative indicators are checked for completeness, consistency, and accuracy;
- Responsibility for annually reviewing and updating reporting guidelines is clear and improvement in methodology is regularly undertaken;
- Guidelines for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting are consistent with and specifically refer to the API, Compendium of Greenhouse Gas Emission Estimation Methodologies for the Oil and Gas Industry (February 2004); and,
- LRQA believes the ExxonMobil reporting system is effective in delivering safety, health, and environmental indicators that are useful for assessing corporate performance and for reporting information consistent with IPIECA/API Guidance.
Thomas F. Sliva
On behalf of Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance, Inc.
April 30, 2008
Lloyd’s Register, its affiliates and subsidiaries, and their respective officers, employees, or agents are, individually and collectively, referred to in this clause as the “LR Group.” The LR Group assumes no responsibility and shall not be liable to any person for any loss, damage, or expense caused by reliance on the information or advice in this document, or howsoever provided, unless that person has signed a contract with the relevant LR Group entity for the provision of this information or advice, and in that case, any responsibility or liability is exclusively on the terms and conditions set out in that contract.
